5 Inspiring Female Interior Designers that Shaped the Industry
March is Women’s History Month so we wanted to call out some of the incredible female interior designers who shaped the industry and pioneered their own interior design styles that are still celebrated to this day.
Elise de Wolfe
Elise de Wolfe, also known as Lady Mendl and often referred to as “America’s first decorator” was born in NYC in 1865, educated in NYC and Scotland, eventually returned to NYC and began acting professionally. Around 1885 she met her partner Elisabeth “Bessie” Marbury who was a successful literary agent who worked with names like Sarah Bernhardt and Oscar Wilde.
She immediately began catching eyes with her onstage style and wardrobe. She first sunk her teeth into the interior design world by restyling the Union Square home she shared with Marbury. Moving away from the heavy and cluttered Victorian style common of the time, she created light , minimal spaces using soft colors and luxury antiques, which would become her signature style. She’d soon design their residence in France, which would later become well known as Elise de Wolfe Paris House. After visiting her refreshed home, friends commissioned her to help design the Colony Club, a new women’s club opening at 120 Madison Ave. From then on, the clients continued to roll in, including big names like the Hewitts and Conde Nast. She’d go on to open her own company in 1913 and wrote a popular book called The House in Good Taste.
De Wolf was a pioneer in anti-Victorian interior design and her signature style of bright and airy, refined spaces is revered today.
2. Sister Parish ( aka Dorothy May Kinnicutt)
Dorothy May Kinnicutt, better known as Sister Parish, was born in New Jersey in 1910 to a wealthy, well connected family with homes in NJ, Manhattan, Maine, and Paris. (Her grandfather was Edith Wharton’s doctor and dear friend.) Her 3 year old brother Frankie would call her Sister, a nickname that would stick around for her lifetime and beyond.
After highschool, she was expected to marry and would go on to wed a banker, Henry Parish II. While their Manhattan apartment was decorated by a designer, when they purchased the Long Lane house in New Jersey, Sister Parish took the reins and developed her own tastes that would eventually become infamous as the “Sister Parish Style”. White painted wood, cotton fabrics, and experimentation with brightly painted floors were the beginnings of her unique style. Her home was lighter and less formal than other high society interiors of the time.
Finances stiffened with the Great Depression and in 1933 Sister Parish opened her own decorating business at the age of 23. While she was completely untrained as a designer, her family influenced her style (Her first cousin was renowned interior decorator Dorothy Draper). Her first clients were local friends but in the late 1950’s she befriended Jacqueline Kennedy and began decorating her houses. When Kennedy became president in 1960, Jackie would hire Sister Parish to help with the redesign of the White House interiors. While the relationship with Jackie would eventually run its course, a young designer named Albert Hadley, who was brought on by Parish in 1962 to help with the White House project, would become her full time partner in 1964. The two would work together until Sister Parish’s death in 1994.
Sister Parish is attributed with originating what is now known as Sister Parish Style: American country style; unlike many designers of the time she avoided matching and perfectly symmetrical set ups, often using contrasting prints and intentionally placing things off center. To this day, designers and home enthusiasts are still inspired by the unique Sister Parish fabrics and Sister Parish designs.
3. Dorothy Draper
Cousin to Sister Parish, Dorothy Catherine Draper was born in 1889 to a very wealthy, privileged family living in one of the most exclusive communities in American history, Tuxedo Park in Atlanta. She founded Dorothy Draper & Company in 1923, establishing the first interior design company in the US. Not only was she the first to “professionalize” the interior design industry she also started her own company at a time when it was extremely uncommon for a woman to go into business by herself.
She was a pioneer revolutionizing the concept of “design” by breaking away from the historical “period room” styles that previously dominated the industry. She had confidence in her design style and her business sense and quickly became widely successful. She is as well-known for her confidence as she is for her designs.
After the Wall Street Crash her husband left her for another woman but that didn’t slow her down. While countless businesses were forced to shutter during the Great Depression, Dorothy Draper continued to whet her signature design style in hotels, resorts, nightclubs, and restaurants across the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Coty Salon in Rockefeller Center.
While her designs would grace many public spaces, she never lost her founding belief that the design of a home had a profound impact on the inhabitants life. "Your home is the backdrop of your life, whether it is a palace or a one-room apartment. It should honestly be your own—an expression of your personality."
The Dorothy Draper style or “Draperisms” included elaborate plaster moldings, extra wide stripes, oversized black-and-white checkerboard floors, and an avoidance of neutrals. She preferred saturated, bright color schemes like chartreuse, crimson, sky blue, and shiny black. To this day Dorothy Draper is one of the most infamous interior designers in history and her style and confidence remain an inspiration to designers and DIYers around the world.
4. Candice Wheeler
Candice Wheeler, known as the “Mother of Interior Design,” was born in 1827 in on a farm in New Delhi, NY. Unlike many early interior designers, Wheeler did not come from money or status. She was a lover of the arts from a young age and became an instigator of change in the Women's Movement. While she was a feminist, she focused her efforts on economic power for women over political power, which she believed was more pressing. While she didn’t have the financial or social backing typical of most charity leaders at the time, her artistic talent, strong social conscience and unparalleled self confidence and drive would allow her to create a substantial career for herself. She would be acknowledged as a national expert on all things having to do with interiors (specifically textiles) and contributed to the design industry by writing books, articles, and even an autobiography Yesterdays in a Busy Life (1918).
Candice Wheeler fiercely believed women should be able to make their own living and in 1883, she formed her own, women only, textile firm called Associated Artists.
She aggressively advocated that art and design should be considered a paying career for women, not a hobby. She was one of the first designers to produce designs to be manufactured and was one of the first women to gain a reputation as a professional interior decorator (a profession she helped create).
While she is well known for a uniquely American style of textile and wallpaper designs her most significant accomplishment is that, as both an early “career woman” and a designer, she became a role model for women, demanding a place in the workforce as equals to men.
5. Syrie Maugham
Often referred to as the “Princess of pale” after her infamous all white rooms Syrie Maugham was born to a well off family in 1879 London Maugham grew up in a pious household. Her father was a Protestant Evangelist and a strict advocate for bible reading obedience and the forgoing of worldly pleasures. In her early twenties, against the current societal expectations, she apprenticed herself to a London decorating firm which would be the turning point from her pious background to a world of sophistication. Syrie Maugham learned the ins and outs of the industry, including furniture restoration, trompe-l’oeil, upholstery, and curtain design. In 1922, at the age of 42, she opened her own business Syrie Ltd. Her business grew and soon she expanded, opening shops in Chicago and NY.
Maugum was exceptional at marketing her personal style and initially became well known for her innovative “all white” rooms. In addition to her designs, she was considered a go-to source for high quality furniture. Syrie Maugum’s signature style is still relevant today, she inspired designers of her time (like Elise de Wolfe) and paved the way for the designers of today.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, 5 female interior designers that shaped the industry are Elise de Wolfe, Sister Parish, Dorothy Draper, Candice Wheeler, and Syrie Maugham. These inspirational ladies paved the way for future women to succeed in design and business and also set in motion design styles that are still seen in interior design trends today.
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